When the weather gets hot...

True Confessions - Rachel Gibson (Avon 2001)

...I start craving books about the rural Mountain West. Or the South. I'm kind of easy to please that way. What I do not crave is a 2500 year old text about the Peloponnesian War. So I'm still plugging along on that.

This was my break from that about 2-3 weeks ago. Hope takes refuge in an idyllic Idaho town to get her groove back in her tabloid stories. But it turns out the sexy sheriff also has ties to Los Angeles. And when they meet, sparks fly. In all sorts of directions.

Can I write the back covers for romance novels? Please? I'll keep practicing and getting better at it.

No fake marriages, but plenty of love under false pretenses.

The course of true love...

I'm In No Mood For Love - Rachel Gibson (Avon Books, 2006)

Calling Romeo - Alexandra Potter (Downtown Press, 2002)

I needed a romantic reading fix, so took a trip to the library and ended up with these two, figuring I was safe with both authors. And now I don't have that much to say, except that here they are. Gibson ran more or less according to romance genre conventions, but I found both characters appealing. Potter offered a really interesting look at how a love story almost falls apart, and what's required to make a relationship work. Fairly or not, I found one character loads more sympathetic than the others, but a happy ending for one requires a happy ending for most, so.... 

And now the pink books go back to the library, and something else will take their place.

A likely match

Sex, Lies, and Online Dating - Rachel Gibson (Avon Books, 2006)

Lenny and Eunice were really bringing me down. This totally beautiful and heartfelt story, no matter how satirically presented, was a little more than I could handle. Especially because it was, as promised, "super sad."

So I needed another love story to read in tandem. Enter Rachel Gibson. She writes contemporary romance novels, and first caught my eye (in a Booklist capsule review maybe?) because at least a few of her titles center around the fictitious NHL Seattle Chinooks. Yay hockey players! This one does not, but our protagonist is a fan of the minor-league team in Boise.

In addition to liking hockey, Lucy is a mystery writer who has decided to tackle the subject of a serial killer who meets men on dating sites and then sends them to their death via erotic asphyxiation. So she has to date some for research. The trouble is that someone in the city is acting out her book, even while it's still being written. Which leads her to Quinn, a cop who is dating around in hopes of drawing out the killer, who is, obviously, Lucy. Right? Blah blah immediate physical connection, growing emotional attachment, annoyance at lies and concerns about how the other one feels, etc. In short, the perfect antidote to Lenny and Eunice. So just what I needed.